To Where It All Started
by renegade0625
Summary: 3 years after solving the murder case, the Investigation Team lived a very normal life until their leader returned with some uninvited guests hot on his trail.
1. Unexpected Return

_Authors Note: This is my first Persona multi-chapter fic. This is an idea that just won't leave me alone. I just had to put it out! HAHAHA!_

_Anyway, this story is set 3 years after the True Ending of Persona 4. This will also have a bit of Persona 3 elements in it.:)_

_ I haven't included the changes in Persona 4:Golden since I really haven't played it yet. Even Persona 4:Arena. I'm such a loser..._

_I'd probably update about once a week or once every two weeks, depending on my schedule. I've got a pretty messed up schedule..._

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot. ATLUS owns Persona 3 and Persona 4.:)_

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_August 13, 2015 5:16PM_

Ryotaro Dojima didn't know what to expect when he saw the text message his nephew sent him last during the last few days but from the briefness of the message, he could tell it was urgent. He also couldn't tell if he was messing with him or not because from the previous days, Souji didn't arrive. He also felt stupid because of the fog that covered the town of Inaba the past year. Which means there was a drop in temperature even during the summer season and he didn't even bring his jacket with him.

_I'm coming back. Please don't tell anyone. Meet me at the station at 5 PM._

He reread the message and started to think of all the possible scenarios his nephew has gotten into. As far as he knew, only a handful of things fazed his nephew. From what he and the rest of his friends told him, Souji has been leading his friends into a world inside the TV - which he still didn't believe existed- fighting monsters that were called Shadows that came from the collective human consciousness of the world - another thing that he didn't believe in his nephew's story - and most of all, the beings they called Personas. From all of the things they said to him when he asked for the truth that Christmas of 2011, that was the most dubious thing - but he had a feeling it was the truth - which they had told.

Scratching the back of his head, he thought of the explanation they gave about these Personas.

* * *

_Flashback_

_December 25, 2011_

"So let me get this straight… you "fight"" said Dojima as he quoted the word, "these said monsters with these Personas?"

"That's right, Uncle." Souji answered as he looked straight into Dojima's eyes. Dojima held the gaze but his nephew never wavered. He gave up with a sigh and continued with his interrogation while they waited for the girls to finish baking the "Christmas Edition of Mystery Food X" as labelled by the Hanamura kid.

"So… how exactly do you get this…Persona?" he asked, unsure if it was the right thing to do. The "truth" his nephew and his friends have been oh-so willing to tell him was already too much to take in.

"I…don't know, actually. I just got mine the second time I entered the TV with Yosuke…" Souji answered slowly as he looked at Yosuke to answer his uncle's question.

"Uh…well…how do I say this?" Yosuke fumbled as he tried to put into words how he and the other people from their group got their Persona.

"Well first, you have to face your "other self" there. They're our own Shadow which represents a part of ourselves that we didn't want the world to know. They look exactly like us too so it really freaks you out when they spill the beans." he finished as he took a deep breath when he saw Dojima's raised eyebrow. "Dammit! He's gonna think I'm a real lunatic!" he whispered to Souji as he kicked him from under the kotatsu.

"Don't worry, Yosuke-senpai." said Kanji as he smiled at his senior. "He already thinks ya are."

"Thanks dude. I'm really _happy_ to hear that…" Yosuke muttered as he turned towards Dojima again. "Anyway, once we faced them, it really freaks you out so we all kinda… rejected them." he said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Then after they got rejected, they go berserk and transform into things that represent that part of us that we didn't want to show to the world. After that, we beat the crap outta them and then they return into their original forms…you know, the way we look…and then we accept them and they turn into our Persona." Yosuke finished his long-winded explanation and looked like he wanted to bang his head on top of the kotatsu.

"If that didn't sound like asylum material, I don't know what is…" his voice muffled as he hid his face on his arms.

"There might be a pair of straitjackets tailor-made for you." Souji commented as he snickered behind his hand.

Dojima in the other hand now has disbelief written all over his face as he tried to absorb all the craziness that the Hanamura kid spouted. He raised his hand to his face and put it on his forehead.

"Wait a minute… so does that mean you don't have any secrets that you don't want the world to see?" Dojima asked as he looked at Souji as hetried to lessen the impending headache by slowly massaging his temples.

"I don't know. I was just able to summon mine immediately when we needed it." he answered with a shrug. "I mean, there's a lot we don't understand. We don't understand why I can use different Personas in the middle of battle too…" he added.

Dojima had just sighed as he continued to massage his temples. He was hoping to get at least some more concrete evidence against Adachi but that seems unlikely at this point. All the things they said just now wouldn't stand in court…

* * *

_August 13, 2015 5:25PM_

Dojima shook his head as he tried to think of more possible scenarios that his nephew was in. It seems unlikely that he would be caught up with another incident concerning "supernatural events". He began listing down all the scenarios he came up with when a hand on his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts.

Dojima turned around with a smile which quickly fell as he saw his nephew's state. Despite the fact that Souji was now a good head taller than him, his hair a bit shorter than that of his one year stay in Inaba. His eyes were a mixture of panic and relief as sweat continued to trail down his face. He wore a blue button up shirt which had multiple tears at the sides and some mud down the front of the shirt. He also wore a pair of denim jeans which were splotched with mud as well as his sneakers. Overall he looked like he _ran_ all the way from the city to Inaba. He has no bag slung over his shoulder or any kind of baggage.

But what caught Dojima's trained eyes was the golf club that has obviously seen better days and the handle of a gun tucked in front of his pants' waistline.

"Uncle!" the panic was also evident on his voice as he grabbed Dojima with his free hand. "Please drive me towards the hill. The one overlooking the town!" he begged. "I'm being followed. I'll explain everything later after I've dealt with them." He added as he looked at his uncle straight in the eye.

Dojima returned the stare as he saw two large men in trench coats, walking along the tracks of the train. They saw Souji and pointed at them and started to jog until it turned into a full-out sprint towards where they were.

The hand gripping Dojima's shoulder suddenly went to his arm as Souji bolted to the parking lot.

"Which one's your car?" he asked as he gripped the golf club tightly.

Dojima yanked his arm away and walked towards a white sedan that was the same model as the one he owned four years ago. He opened the lock and got in. As he was buckling up, Souji got in the passenger side throwing his battered golf club in the back seat.

As Dojima started the car, they heard the thundering footfalls of Souji's two pursuers. Dojima revved the engine and floored the accelerator, nearly hitting a couple on the way to the main road. He moved to sound the siren to clear the traffic but Souji grabbed his arm before he could.

"Don't. I don't want to have innocent people get dragged into this. You're the only one I can trust to keep a cool head in this situation…" Souji kept looking at the side mirror of the car, keeping the two pursuers in his sight. Dojima nodded and just kept driving towards the hill. It wouldn't be good for him to sound the siren. It will attract unwanted attention from the housewives still milling around the streets of Inaba and those two pursuers were bad news.

"So nobody else knows you're here." It wasn't a question, Souji knew. Just a statement of a fact. "What did you get into now, anyway?" he asked, not bothering to hide his irritation.

"I'll tell you la-"

"You better damn will! I don't want anything happening to anyone in this town! Not to you, not to your friends and not Nanako!" Dojima spat as he turned a corner, nearing the base of the hill.

"Nanako-chan will not be harmed… I promise." Souji muttered as he reached over his seat for the golf club.

They spent the rest of the ride towards the top of the hill in relatively tense silence as Souji gripped the handle of his golf club. He had his eyes closed as if in concentration. When Dojima stopped just beside the gazebo, Souji unbuckled his seatbelt and proceeded to step out of the car.

"I'll tell you everything later after I get rid of these guys." Souji nodded towards the approaching figures of their pursuers, all traces of fear washed out of his face and demeanor. Dojima looked at his eyes, noting the absence of all the traces of panic in their depths. In its place was a fire to protect those important to him and the determination to do just that.

The figures were even taller than Souji, now that Dojima had a good look at them. They looked like foreigners, what with their height and their body structure in general. Their faces were expressionless not to mention sweat-free even in their trench coat and with all the running they just did to catch up with them. There was rumbling laughter coming from the direction of the two strangers although they showed no signs of opening their mouths to emit such a sound.

It was then that the two strangers grew in size, growing even bulkier than they were before. The trench coats they wore now lay in shreds at their feet as their body continued to bulge. Then, as if it was glass, their skin started to fall off which revealed the sleek blackness of their muscles and their faces gave way to their masks and their blonde hair. They started to growl and pound their chests with their fists. They both pointed at Souji and he felt their aura change.

"Uncle…" Souji started walking towards them and stopped a few feet away from the two Shadows, his right hand gripping the battered golf club tighter. "Do you remember what we told you about Shadows?" he asked as he pulled out the gun with his left hand.

Dojima could only stare as he was asked the question. Dojima then looked at the two towering figures at the opposite end at the top of the hill. His eyes widened as realization hit him hard.

"No… no way… Those are… Shadows?!" he asked as he took a step back and and reached for his own gun.

"Don't bother, Uncle." Souji said as he lifted his gun, but instead of aiming at the Shadows, he aimed it at his head. "You would not be able to hurt it… You don't have a Persona." he steadied his breathing and his left arm. If what the person who gave him this gun was to be trusted then that would mean that he could summon a Persona outside of the TV but he would also need to be in an alternate dimension much like the TV World for this to work. No time to waste…

"Let's go, Izanagi!"

Souji pulled the trigger and felt his head get thrown to the right from the force of the impact together with the sound of a gunshot followed immediately by the sound of shattering glass. He felt a small ache in his chest as he saw the familiar blue shards circling around him and gathering behind him. He didn't waste time waiting for the facet of his self form and charged towards one of the Shadows.

The Shadow was already throwing a punch towards Souji but he ducked under the punch and when he got near enough, he spun on his heel, gripping the golf club with both his hands and hit the Shadow's knees with all his strength and momentum he had when he spun. The golf club gave away and broke when it hit its target.

The Shadow shrieked in agony as it fell to its knees, not expecting a powerful blow coming from the Persona-user. As it was going to stand, a bladed heel came into contact with its face, cracking the mask it had and pushing it on its back where it disappeared into a black mist.

It was at that moment that Dojima had seen the tall figure of "Izanagi" as Souji had called him. He had a black coat reminiscent of that of gang leaders with a helmet that hid his face except for the eyes which resembled Souji's except for the color. It was a very bright, yellow color in contrast to Souji's gray ones. Izanagi also wore black pants, and with black boots with bladed heels. Lastly, the Persona held a large naginata which it held tightly and proudly on his side.

As Izanagi straightened himself, the other Shadow roared in anger as he charged at Souji. Souji saw it coming and dived out of the way, making it hit Izanagi instead. The Persona was sent crashing at the gazebo, making the roof of the gazebo fall on him. Dojima could only look in horror as he saw Souji scream in pain despite not being hit by the Shadow.

Souji clutched his jaw as he felt like he was hit by an oncoming truck. It felt like his jaw was going to fall off due to the hit his Persona took. He also felt his whole body ache as the gazebo fell on top of Izanagi. He felt his muscles protest as he tried to get up. The strain proved too much for his body and he fell back down on his back, spread-eagled and taking deep breaths as he tried to ease the pain his body was experiencing. He saw the Shadow stand over him through the fog. He willed Izanagi to move but thinking about it was causing too much strain on his body.

Dojima tried to get the attention of the Shadow away from his nephew as he shot a round of his gun towards the Shadow's mask. The bullet ricocheted off the mask and dug itself near Souji's outstretched arm.

Dojima got what he wanted and got the Shadow to turn towards him. It started to jog towards him and suddenly broke out into a run as it raised its fist at Dojima. He could only close his eyes as he waited for the impact to come. The sound of something hitting metal was heard throughout the hill. Dojima opened his eyes to see Izanagi blocking the punch with his naginata.

Izanagi was obviously hurt, having dents in his helmet and tears on his coat. His naginata was also beginning to crack from the strength of the Shadow's punch. It gave away and was split into two. The Shadow went for another punch but Izanagi moved to the side and hacked the offending arm off with the blade of his naginata. Izanagi then kicked the Shadow in the chest, leaving an imprint of his heel. The Shadow reeled and stepped back and shrieked in agony from the wounds it got.

"You…will not…hurt any of them!" Souji shouted and Izanagi charged energy from his right hand.

"This ends… now…"

Izanagi then shot the powerful wave of electricity towards the Shadow. The Shadow began to bloat at the surging electricity coursing through its body until it blew up and disappeared into a black mist, mixing in with the fog.

Izanagi began to fade as Souji fell to his knees, whose eyes began to blur with the pain and exhaustion overwhelming his senses.

As he fell forward, he felt arms catch him, wrapping their arms around his shoulders. He heard his uncle's voice nearby, calling for an ambulance and heavy footfalls running towards them and a somewhat familiar screeching calling out to them.

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_Thanks for the read! The update would come later next week so please wait for it.:)_


	2. Unexpected Revelations

**Author's Note**: Here's the second chapter of this story. I did say it would be out early this week.;) I just had to take advantage of all the free time that I had this week. But don't expect regularly fast updates since I don't have this much free time. This was a luxury provided by the long weekend.:D

Anyway, not a lot of exciting things happening in this chapter so I don't know whether you'd like it or not. I like it since it's the longest chapter, oneshot or not, that I published. It was about 8 pages long on MS Word. My other chapters were only about 3- 5 pages before. Should I be proud of myself because I think I'm growing as a writer or was it just a coincidence?

I also added a bit of romance since I'm a total sap and I couldn't resist the temptation of putting pairings in a story. I tried to make this story as neutral to any pairing but I just can't. But the romance would just be like a side-story. It won't focus too much on the romance side.:)

Well anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter!:)

**Disclaimer: I don't own Persona 3 and Persona 4. Atlus does.**

* * *

_August 13, 2015 5:40PM_

Kanji Tatsumi trudged down the road leading towards the hill overlooking the town. He looked around town and found the fog rolling in. It wasn't as bad as it was during the year when the murders occurred. It lowered the visibility just a bit, but not warranting a test whether the glasses Teddie made would work to clear his vision. He guessed not but the fog that rolled in felt quite familiar to him and he would bet his ass that the other members of the Investigation Team felt it too.

He sighed to himself as he shoved his hands into his pants. He heard rumors spreading on the Shopping District of two men chasing after Dojima's car- on foot, at that - and were heading towards the hill itself. He wasn't too worried since for starters, he knows that men on foot cannot- -not even the fastest friggin' man on Earth - can catch up on a car on full throttle. Second, he knew that Dojima could take care of himself. He's got a gun on him for God's sake! There's nothing to be afraid of.

He shook his head free from those thoughts as he continued to walk towards the hill. He had his reasons to go to the gazebo. It was a place for him to relax and clear his head of all the crap that went on with his life. He could also hear his Persona clearer when he went there. Maybe because there wasn't any noise not like in the Shopping District or the Floodplain. He wouldn't want to be around too much people anyway. He'd just get pissed.

People still had the twisted perception of him as a leader of the local biker gangs. He gave up trying to correct them. He was just happy that he has a handful of people who believe that he was not what the majority of the population of Inaba thought he was. They were a bunch of misfits but at least they still had a good time when they get together.

He smiled as he remembered all the times that they got together on the hill that he was going to be in a few minutes. He could remember all the times, both during and after the murder case that he spent with the group of friends that he made during the murder case.

He remembered the times he came there with Souji where they would just talk and the time where he made the plush toys that was the reason he started to put up some of his works on their textile shop. He also remembered the time when they all organized a separate celebration to end all of the craziness they went through the past year on the summer of 2012. Souji had to cook all the food as to not get another helping of Mystery Food X from the girls.

He also remembered the time when he called out Naoto after class during their second year in Yasogami. A lot of rumors started flying and spreading inside the school. Some of them speculated that Kanji had a bone to pick with Naoto for arresting one of his supposed members in his biker gang. Others said that he got fed up from all the Detective Prince's fame and decided to put the said detective in his place.

All Kanji did was confess to her.

Needless to say, nothing came out of it. Kanji was crushed and he wanted nothing more than to thrash the gazebo they were in to vent out his anger, hurt and most of all, his frustration. He blamed himself for thinking that he had a chance with her but he got over it before the school year ended, just for the sake of not making everything awkward when the remaining members of the Investigation Team got together in the Junes Food Court.

He sighed as he ran his hand over his bleached hair. He could already see the gazebo on the top of the hill. He also noticed a white sedan pull-up next to it.

"Tch. So much for clearing my head." He said as he turned to move to somewhere else that there were no people at all. It's been a long time since he talked with Rokuten Maoh. It was then that he heard the sound of a gunshot followed by the immediate sound of shattering glass. His eyes widened and the hairs at the back of his neck started to stand when a familiar wave of energy pass through him. He felt Rokuten Maoh stir inside him as he felt himself tremble in panic.

He rubbed the back of his neck as it popped because of the sudden turning of his neck. He saw the familiar blue light when they summoned a Persona. He also knew someone who used her revolver to shoot through her Persona's card...

Naoto Shirogane.

"Shit!" uttered a panicked Kanji as he darted off at the road leading to the top of the hill. H heard an agonized shriek above him, thankful that it wasn't Naoto's voice but it seemed so familiar that he felt his heart drop to his stomach.

Shadows were here... Shadows that shouldn't even be here in this side are here...

"What the hell's going on?!" he shouted as he started to run again, trying to summon Rokuten Maoh's card to no avail. He could hear his Persona grunt in frustration, as if wanting to come out and help Kanji.

'Shit! Why can't I summon mine?!' he thought as he gave up on summoning his Persona. He started to look around the surroundings on anything that he could use as a weapon. He gave up when he couldn't see anything that he could use for a weapon. He used his fists and his feet before in the TV; he could do it again here.

He was stopped from his running when he heard the crashing of wood followed immediately by a familiar shout of pain. The voice didn't belong to Naoto. It was about one year since he heard that voice. He heard it last during the last Summer Festival in Inaba. That was a voice he would recognize anywhere...

He ran faster as he ever did in his life and heard another loud crash from on top of the hill and saw some debris fly down from the hill and onto the road leading up to the top.

He could only wish that he would make it before Souji could drop the ball. He then felt the familiar energy of a powerful Zio spell in the air and the howling of the Shadow before it died down and everything fell deathly silent.

As Kanji finally made it to the top of the hill, he saw Souji lying on his back with his head in Dojima's lap. Dojima has his phone on his shoulder with the side of his head holding it in place and shouting orders at the one on the line. He ran to him and got to see the aftermath of Souji's battle.

The gazebo was nowhere to be found but in its place was a pile of wood on concrete. Pieces of wood also littered the hill with Dojima's car getting the brunt of the damage with large pieces of wood which were supposed to be the poles that held up the roof of the gazebo stuck through the windshield. There was also a black mark on the ground where the electrocuted Shadow must've stood after disappearing into the fog that blanketed the Inaba region again during the past year. The grass that surrounded the black patch on the ground was now charred and with the slight blowing of the wind, they withered away.

"Tatsumi!" Dojima called Kanji's attention as he kept Souji's head steady with his hands. He turned his eyes away from Kanji and shouted at the receiver of his phone. "Shut up, Satonaka! Just send me a goddamn ambulance to my location imme-! No!" he roared as he tried to compose himself. He took a deep breath and turned to Kanji. Kanji kneeled across from Dojima and saw the small cuts and a few tears on Dojima's clothes.

"Look after him for a while." He ordered Kanji as he tried transfer Souji's head onto Kanji's lap. "Watch his head. Hold it firm. We don't want him to have a concussion when he bumps his head into something..." he said as he put Souji's head onto Kanji's lap. Kanji placed his hands on the sides of Souji's face and looked for any kind of injury that might've merited the anguished shout he let out earlier.

He was interrupted when he heard Dojima shout at Chie again. Chie has only been on the force as one of the receptionists for one year but she was taking her exam to be a detective next year which she will hopefully pass.

"Just get me that damn ambulance! NOW!" he roared at the phone as he walked towards the wreckage of his car.

"And call Shirogane for me. Tell her to meet me at the hospital." he ordered before he ended the call. He checked the inside of his car and looked at the compartment at the passenger's side. He took some files and tucked it under his arm as he walked back to Souji and Kanji.

"Hey Dojima-san. What happened to him? I heard a gunshot and then I heard all the noise you've been making..." he said, not really wanting to ask the question he had wanted to ask since he got there.

"What happened?" he asked before he could stop himself.

Dojima looked uneasy as he avoided eye contact with Kanji. Kanji gulped as what he had been dreading was becoming more and more possible. Dojima wouldn't be like this if what happened over here was just a simple incident of gangs having a turf war that escalated to having the gazebo in shambles. But he had to make sure.

"S-Shadows followed him on his way here..." Dojima started as he rubbed his temples. He never thought that he would be saying something so illogical, not to mention impossible, to explain what happened. But then again, none of Souji's friends were something that you would call "normal".

Kanji kneaded his knuckles on his forehead as he tried to remain calm. He wanted nothing more but to call the others and discuss what was going on like during the times they would discuss the case on Junes's food court. They always were more effective when they put their heads together. He was brought out of his brooding when Dojima continued his explanation.

"He texted me a few days ago that he would be coming back here. He also told me not to tell anyone of his return. I guess he knew that he was being followed and didn't want anyone to be involved. Not yet, anyway."

"That would explain the sorry state of his clothes..." muttered Kanji as he surveyed the clothes that his senpai had. "Wait a sec...You mean he just arrived today? Did he run all the way from the city to the countryside?!" he asked incredulously. He shook his head and looked at the sleeping face of Souji. He had to admit, he chose to look up to someone so crazy.

"That would be the most logical conclusion... Crazy, but that would be the only way to explain his appearance and fatigue." Dojima answered as he waited for the ambulance to arrive.

"But... why the hell did he shout? He doesn't look to be hit anywhere..."

"His..." Dojima started but held himself back but shook his head. "His Persona was hit and crashed into the gazebo. Then he started to scream like he too was hit by that Shadow. Like he felt the hit that his Persona took."

"I see..." Kanji muttered to himself as he tried to move his legs a bit to restore some feeling back into his legs.

A few minutes later, they could already hear the sirens of the ambulance, blaring loudly in the distance. Kanji was silently thanking the gods that watched over him as the sirens grew louder and louder. His legs were cramping up with the lack of blood circulating in it and the weight of Souji's head.

After a few more minutes of waiting, the ambulance pulled up in front of them and the paramedics came down from the vehicle and brought out a stretcher from inside. They quickly but carefully transferred Souji to the stretcher while the others checked up on Dojima's condition. Some also approached Kanji but he waved them off, saying that he was okay.

"Tatsumi." Kanji turned his head towards Dojima. Dojima motioned for him to come inside the ambulance. "Come with us to the hospital. Call Hanamura too. He might need to hear what Souji has to say."

Dojima didn't know why but he had the feeling the Hanamura kid was one of the leaders of their little group.

* * *

_August 13, 2015 6:03PM_

Yosuke didn't have anything to do after he finished checking their stocks inside the stockroom and the shelves inside the different departments of the megastore. He finished early today and sat down behind his table at the executive part of the store.

He was promoted last year to assistant stock manager much to his shock. He guessed it was because his father was the manager of the branch of Junes here but no one complained about his promotion. He did take the work he was given even though he grumbled a lot when he was stocking the shelves of the department store, but he did it anyway.

He couldn't complain about it anyway. He was able to buy his motorcycle and pay for all the expenses when he and Chie went on dates every now and then. He was happy because of all the things that happened to him and the friends he made during the stressful year of the murder incidents. They were all going down their own paths but it didn't matter. They were still friends and they get together whenever they can.

Until this past year.

This past year, they haven't heard from Souji, The last time the saw, let alone hear from him, was during the Summer Festival in Inaba last year. He couldn't help but be anxious of his best friend's silence. He wanted to go to the city just to see if he's okay, but he couldn't leave because of his job's responsibility.

He sighed to himself and spun his chair around, as if hoping to remove all the thoughts he had into the air.

"It is days like these that I wish I went to college." He said to no one in particular as he put his hands behind his head. He almost wished that the murder case from all those years ago would happen again. He felt like during those days, he was doing something for Inaba. It made him feel like a hero.

_Keep thinking like that and it might happen. You could lose someone important again. Say, Chie?_

His back straightened as he recognized Susano-O's voice. He should get used to it. Hell, it's been more or less 3 years since he faced himself inside the TV. But he couldn't complain. His Persona was always there for him when he was about to enter things half-cocked. All the insults and sarcasm from his Persona made him think twice when deciding on something.

'Yeah, yeah. I just wish that something would happen, you know. To liven things up.' he answered back. He learned how to answer back to his Persona without talking out loud. When he answered his Persona out loud during the first few weeks he got his Persona, his parents looked at him with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.

_Don't worry. You might not have felt it but I did. Something big is gonna happen._

Yosuke could almost imagine his Persona smirk, which was impossible because Susano-O didn't have a mouth.

He was about to answer back when he heard the Junes jingle emitting from his phone. He picked it up, jumping from his feet. His face fell when he saw the name on the caller ID. He expected to see Chie's name, expecting her to be released early from the police station since she just traffics the calls that the police station gets.

And in a town as rustic and peaceful as Inaba, there weren't a lot of calls coming in.

He sighed as he answered the call, not knowing what to expect from his junior. He shook his head as he decided to pick on Kanji.

"Kanji, I can't go on a date with you. You know I have a girlfriend and she'd kick me in the nads when she finds out I went out with you." he said as he leaned back on his chair. He heard Kanji sputter on the other end of the line as he tried to form a coherent response to his remark.

"Son of a bitch! When I get my hands on you..." he started but he stopped and took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Listen, you gotta get your ass in the hospital before I go to your house and drag your sorry ass from there to here!"

"But I'm not on my house... I'm still at work..." Yosuke muttered but was caught by Kanji nonetheless.

"You know what I mean, dammit! Just get here before I beat the shit outta you!" and with that Kanji ended the call.

Yosuke could only stare at his phone before he shrugged and got up from his seat. He loosened his tie and removed it, pocketing it in one of the pockets of his pants and opened the first few buttons of his polo. He stretched and grabbed the keys for his motorcycle and left the building.

* * *

_August 13, 2015 6:28PM_

Yosuke entered the hospital and was immediately called over by Kanji.

"Over here, Yosuke-senpai!" he shouted as he waved his arms.

He looked like he was pissed at something but was trying to hold it in. He was expecting a punch to his gut when he walked over to him but instead, he was pulled by the arm by a running Kanji. He followed Kanji's lead and ran so that he wouldn't be dragged like a rag doll.

When they finally stopped, he saw Naoto sitting on the benches near the door of a hospital room. He could hear Dojima's voice from inside the room and an unfamiliar voice that must belong to the doctor. His felt his stomach twist into tight knots inside of him. He looked at the nameplate by the door but there was still no name in there.

"H-Hey... w-what happened?" he asked as he saw Naoto hiccup a bit. She also had faint trails of tears on her cheeks and the tears on her eyes, clumping together her long eyelashes. Kanji pressed his lips together in a tight frown and walked over to the window.

When no one answered he sat next to Naoto and waited for anyone to tell him anything. He wringed his hands together as he thought of all the possibilities. Did someone try to kidnap Nanako-chan again? Did she get hurt when Dojima-san tried to rescue her? Did she-?

All of his morbid thoughts were put to a stop when the door to the room opened and Dojima and the doctor stepped out.

"How is she? Is she gonna be alright?!" he asked as he lunged for the doctor. He clutched the sleeves of the doctor's uniform tightly as he tried not to shake the answer out of the poor doctor. The doctor raised an eyebrow at him and cleared his throat.

Yosuke let go of him and took a step back. The doctor tried to straighten his sleeves and looked at the three younger people in front of him.

"Mr. Seta would be okay. He's just fatigued and need to stay in bed for a few days. He also needs to be fed at the right times by the right food. It seems he hasn't eaten a lot in the past few days. Now then, if you'll excuse me." he said as he gave a small bow and walked down the opposite direction.

Yosuke found himself staring after the doctor with his mouth hanging open. He turned to Kanji and then Naoto. He could also hear Susano-O laugh out loud, to his chagrin.

"Why didn't you guys tell me he was the one in there?!" he asked them heatedly as he pointed at Souji's hospital room.

Kanji only looked away with a scowl and Naoto acted as if she didn't even hear him. He turned to Dojima who just looked at him with a stern expression.

An awkward and tense atmosphere followed the silence of the group.

"We'll talk later after he wakes up. He just fell asleep again thanks to the medicine the doctor gave him. I have to get home and check on Nanako." Dojima said as he turned to walk. "And Hanamura." He added as he turned his head to look at Yosuke. "Not a word to anyone in your group, okay?"

Yosuke could only nod as Dojima started to walk towards Naoto. He put a hand on her shoulder, muttering something before looking at Yosuke then at Kanji before leaving.

"I'm gonna head back too." announced Kanji after a few minutes as he too left Yosuke and Naoto, not even bothering to look at them when he left.

"What's up his butt? he asked Naoto. Naoto hesitated before answering.

"He found out... about me and Senpai..." she said as she pulled her cap down to hide her eyes.

"Damn... now I know why he was so sulky."

Yosuke wasn't surprised about Souji and Naoto's relationship because Souji told him when he tried to set Souji up with a part-timer at Junes. Yosuke could still remember Souji's beet red face when he told him. Oh, how Yosuke had a laugh at that. Seeing their fearless leader turn an interesting shade of red was amusing to see.

"Well... no use sulking about it now." he said as he stood and walked over to the door of Souji's hospital room. He opened it and gestured to Naoto to enter. "Better to look after him inside of his room where you can see him, right?" he added with a small smirk. Naoto just looked at him and let out a small smile before she entered the room. Yosuke entered after her and closed the door.

He looked over at the bed and saw the former leader of their Investigation Team, sleeping soundly with some sweat in his forehead. Naoto walked over to him and pulled out a navy blue handkerchief to wipe away the sweat off her boyfriend's face. She sat down at the chair beside the bed and continued to look at his face while stroking Souji's silver locks.

Yosuke sat at the chair on the opposite side of the room, near the door. He might as well stay, just to make sure that Naoto would get her own share of food and rest. Souji would never forgive him if he left Naoto with no support whatsoever during these kinds of situations.

He sighed and pulled out his phone to check if Chie left a message for him.

There were none.

* * *

**A/N**: There you have it! Expect the next update to be a bit late because I'm entering hell week in college. Wish me luck!

Hope you guys enjoyed it! Leave a review so I know what I should work on and your suggestions are always welcome.

**Review Responses:**

**Judge Shiki:** Thanks for saying that this story has potential. I'll try my best to have this story reach its true potential.:)

**CometRacer007: **Thanks for reading the first chapter! I really liked the first chapter of this story since it's my first time to write something of this genre. I hope you liked this chapter too.:)

**Epic Piano Solo: **There are some stories here in this site that have the same concept as my story. Hopefully I can get this story to be unique in its own way. And **YES **he's hiding something big. HAHAHA! But you'll just have to see what happens as the story moves on. Thanks for the review!:)


	3. Unexpected Turn of Events

**Author's Note: **I know this is pretty late but what can I do? University's been a pain, keeping me away from this story for 3 weeks. I think I almost had a withdrawal from not writing anything non-academic works...

Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter too. It will answer a few questions, although there is too much dialogue.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Persona 4, Persona 3 nor any character that would be in this story. They belong to ATLUS.**

* * *

_August 13, 2015 5:50 PM_

Souji felt his aching body respond to his mind as he tried to move. Even the slightest twitch made him groan in slight pain. He blacked out after Izanagi finished off the last Shadow, if he remembered correctly. He also remembered waking up after he was strapped securely onto the stretcher. Even then, when they transferred him carefully and secured him, he felt like screaming his head off because of the contact against his skin.

He did a good job of holding in his pained scream as to not make the paramedics panic. There was nothing wrong with his physical body; it was his metaphysical one that was damaged.

He just hoped that the pain would go away after he got some sleep...

* * *

_August 13, 2015 6:10 PM_

Souji was woken up when a pair of slender arms wrapped themselves around his waist. He also felt someone's head push against his throbbing cheek. His eyes watered as he screamed in pain when the arms and head instantly jerked away from him.

His cheek burned as he clutched it, causing it to hurt even more. He gripped the white covers of the hospital bed as he tried to numb the pain from his waist and cheek. He could also hear frantic voices all around him, making his now throbbing head add to the pain he was in. He felt arms hold down his arms and legs to stop his thrashing about on the bed.

He felt the tears in his eyes flow down as they now added to the pain he was feeling. He could hear someone trying to console him while stroking his hair. He finally snapped as he felt petite hands comb through his hair. He found his voice after he had enough of the pain.

"DON'T TOUCH ME, GODDAMIT! IT HURTS!" he roared as the hands restraining him let go of his limbs in shock. The hand on his hair remained there, as though frozen in shock. And then slowly, the hand pulled away. He then heard a soft stream of apologies and the soft padding of feet followed by the opening and closing of the door.

Souji breathed heavily for a few minutes because of the pain and to calm himself down. He heard the door open again and the sound of a tray being put down on his bedside table.

After a few minutes, he felt his consciousness fade together with the pain he felt...

* * *

_?/?/? 7:07 AM_

Souji felt like his body was made of lead. Not only that but he felt like his whole body was sore. It wasn't like the pain he experienced during the fight with the Shadows. It didn't merit a scream from him. Instead he let out a soft groan and tried to rub the sleep off of his eyes with his right hand. He tried to lift it up to his face and felt someone else's hand tighten its grip on his own. He turned his head to the right to see Naoto Shirogane sleeping beside his bed. She fell asleep while sitting on the chair beside his bed. He also saw Yosuke sleeping on the other side of the room on the small sofa of the hospital room with his headphones hanging around his neck.

He felt another squeeze from his right hand and saw Naoto stir and open her eyes blearily. She looked around the room as if to ascertain where she was and then snapped her head towards Souji. He couldn't think of anything to say so he just smiled at her.

"You're... finally awake..." she started as she wiped the tears that started forming. "How could you b so reckless? Why didn't you say you were going back here?" she asked as she tried to compose herself.

Souji tried to find his voice but nothing but a rough, rasping noise came out. Naoto cut him off by looking him straight in the eye.

"We could've helped you..." she said softly as some tears fell from her eyes.

Souji's breath hitched as Naoto sobbed quietly, hiding her face on the bed's surface. He turned to his side, ignoring the stiffness he feels throughout his whole body and reached his other hand out to run his fingers through her hair.

"I-" Souji started but he coughed to clear his throat. "I'm... sorry. I just... didn't want... any of you... caught up in this mess."

Just then, the door of his hospital room opened and Dojima walked in with a tote bag and a Junes paper bag. He placed both next to Yosuke and walked towards the couple. When he was close enough, Souji saw that he had a bandage on his right temple. He also had bags under his eyes. Souji assumed it was because of the reports he had to make and the interviews he had to do for the media.

"Good of you to wake up." Dojima said as he crossed his arms.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble..." was the raspy reply of Souji. He tried to sit up on his bed and he was assisted by Naoto. She propped his pillow up so that he would be more comfortable as he sat up. With a quiet "thank you" he turned to his uncle.

"Now's the time to explain everything that's happened. We've been waiting for you to wake up for 2 days." Dojima stated as he narrowed his eyes at his nephew. Souji just stared at him stoically, not betraying a hint of emotion before he averted his gaze. He looked at Naoto and then at the sleeping form of Yosuke before he looked at Dojima again.

"Alright. But please get the others here so that I don't have to tell this story twice..."

* * *

_August 15, 2015 7:38 AM_

Yukiko Amagi sat in front of the reception table near the entrance of the inn. She put her chin on her hand and waited for people who wanted to stay at their inn, answer the telephone for customers wanting to reserve rooms and banquet halls, but none came. It was quite understandable with the time being early in the morning. She would rather be in the kitchen, waiting for the food to be brought to the rooms of the customers or out in the hallways, sweeping the floor than to just sit here and wait.

Especially now that she knew that something was happening. She didn't know what was going on exactly but she knew it has to be something that would be in the same degree from when the murders happened during her second year of highschool.

She felt a very familiar wave of energy pass through her when she was out on an errand the day before yesterday. She even felt Amaterasu become agitated within her. Until now, Amateraus was still agitated that it started to bother her.

She shook her head and wished that she was wrong. That there wasn't going to be another incident like those kidnappings and murders. But when she heard about the two large men chasing Dojima's car to the hill on foot, the gazebo being destroyed and the fact that a lightning strike hit the top of the said hill while the weather was fine, with just the light fog rolling in, was too good to be just a coincidence.

She sighed and continued to stare at the inn's entrance when the inn's telephone rang. She jumped up from her seat from shock and answered the phone.

"Good morning. Thank you-" she started but she was cut-off by Naoto's voice.

"_Yukiko-san, please come to the hospital right away. There is something that we need to discuss together with the others." _said Naoto. From the sounds in the background, Yosuke was already there together with Kanji.

"I don't know if I could go there, but I'll try to come. I'll call you later if I can't come." replied Yukiko. She was starting to believe that whatever happened on top of the hill was the topic that was going to be discussed.

_But why in the hospital? _Amaterasu asked Yukiko. Yukiko didn't answer as she didn't know either.

"_Please ask for Souji-kun's room. That's where we will meet."_ And with that, the line went dead.

Yukiko stood there for a full minute, still holding the phone. She was in a state of shock. Shock because of the suddenness of Souji's return to Inaba, but also the fact that he was in the hospital. She put some of the pieces together and immediately rushed to her room.

'He might be connected with the incident on that hill!' she thought as she ran towards the direction of her room. She didn't care whether the front desk was left with no one to take her post right now.

She quickly left and went to her room to change out of her work clothes to a black blouse and a white skirt that ended just below her knees. After a few minutes, she was out of her room. When she arrived at the entrance, she was stopped by her mother.

"Where do you think you're going?" her mother asked. She had her arms crossed which was a sign that she did not approve of her behaviour. Yukiko cringed inwardly and walked slowly towards her mother.

"A friend of mine is in the hospital. I need to be there for him..." she pleaded as she looked at her mother. Her mother held her gaze for what seemed like hours to Yukiko when her mother suddenly shook her head.

"Fine. Go. I'll take your shifts for today. But be sure to be back before it gets dark." Her mother reprimanded. She wouldn't want her only daughter to walk around town especially with the fog rolling in again at indefinite times.

"Thank you, mother!" Yukiko said as she bowed low and ran off towards the shoe rack on the side of the entrance and wore her sandals.

"I hope it's nothing serious, Souji-kun..." she whispered to herself and ran to the bus stop.

* * *

_August 15, 2015 8:04 AM_

The ride to the hospital was uneventful. Yukiko stepped out of the bus and went straight to the reception desk of the hospital. She saw a nurse typing in the computer while looking over what Yukiko guessed to be a patient's report.

"Excuse me, can I know the room of Souji Seta?" she asked the nurse sitting behind the desk.

"Room 208. It's in the left wing of the hospital." The nursed answered with a small smile and turned back to the computer.

"Thank you." And with that she walked towards the stairs of the hospital. She hoped that whatever put Souji in the hospital was nothing serious.

_I wonder if he really had something to do with the recent incidents on that hill... _wondered Amaterasu as Yukiko continued to walk up the stairs.

Yukiko stopped in mid-step as her Personas statement made. That was the most logical conclusion except that they shouldn't be able to summon their Persona in this world. That one factor was what made her think that all of this was a big coincidence. Maybe all the rumors circulating around town was nothing but that; rumors.

As she reached the second floor of the hospital, she heard two voices shouting at each other. She turned and saw her bestfriend, Chie Satonaka and her bestfriend's boyfriend, Yosuke Hanamura shouting at each other's faces. It looked like Chie was fuming over something and Yosuke was defending himself, his arms at raised a bit just in case of a sudden kick from Chie.

"How could you not contact me?! You're not his only friend in Inaba, you selfish asshole!" Chie screeched as her clenched hands swung furiously in front of her.

"Hey, I contacted you!" Yosuke shouted back as she dodged a stray fist that swung towards him. "And he was the one who didn't want to-"

"I'm your GIRLFRIEND!" Chie cut-off as she swung her fist towards Yosuke's arm. It hit its target and Yosuke yelped in pain and glared at his girlfriend. As fast as the glare appeared, his eyes softened and he let his arms fall to his sides.

"Look... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do it. But..." Yosuke sighed as he searched for the words to explain himself. "He didn't want anyone to know he went back. Hell, I only found out he came back the day before yesterday..." He scratched the back of his head and looked back at Chie. "It also looks like he got himself into trouble. Maybe that's why he didn't want anyone to know about it. The only one he contacted was Dojima-san."

Chie visibly relaxed but she still had a trace of being pissed when Yukiko walked over to them. Yukiko reached out a hand and touched Chie's shoulder to make her friend relax a bit more. Yukiko turned to Yosuke and gave him a nod before motioning for the couple to follow her to Souji's room.

"So Yosuke-kun..." Yukiko started as Yosuke held the door of Souji's room for the two ladies. "It seems like you know a lot of what happened to Souji-kun. Care to enlighten us about it?" she added.

"As I'm sure that you heard earlier, I don't know what happened. All I know is that he was taken here after the incident on top of the hill." answered Yosuke as he closed the door behind him. "He's going to tell us what happened anyway so it's better to just have him tell the story."

Yukiko looked around the cramped hospital room of Souji. Kanji was standing in the corner of the room, leaning at the wall and looking straight ahead at the opposite wall. Souji and Naoto were sitting next to each other at the small sofa provided in the room, both of them conversing silently. And the last one she noticed was Dojima sitting on a plastic chair near his nephew.

Everyone was there except for Teddie and Rise who can't make it because of the non-ending tours she had to do because of her work.

For the past 2 or so months, no one has heard from Teddie. Everybody in the group was worried about what was happening in the TV World for Teddie not to visit their world every now and then.

Yukiko also noticed the tense atmosphere coming from Kanji, Naoto and Souji as she, Chie and Yosuke pulled out chairs for them to sit on. It felt like an elephant was in the room with them as they made themselves comfortable. Nobody spoke for a few minutes. She felt Chie fidget a bit because of the heavy atmosphere that their other friends were emitting.

After a few more minutes, Kanji sighed and pulled himself off the wall of the hospital.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he stared hard at Souji. "You just wanna get together? Forget this, man! I've got more important things to do back at the shop so if you'll excuse me, I've got to go." He started to walk towards the door but was stopped by Yosuke.

"Look, dude, I know you're hurt but they're our friends, man." Yosuke said as he tried to reason with Kanji. "Are you going to let that ruin our friendship?" he added as he stood his ground against the towering form of Kanji.

For a moment, Kanji looked like he was going to give Yosuke something to think about when he tries to stop him again but he thought better of it and just walked back to the corner of the room. Yosuke visibly relaxed as he walked back towards his chair next to Chie.

"Remind me never to do that again..." he whispered to Chie. He turned to Souji and looked expectantly at him, urging his best friend to start talking.

Souji looked at Naoto who nodded at him and at Dojima who was staring at him intently, waiting for him to start with his story. He took a deep breath and started.

"First, let me ask if you remember the reason I transferred here to Inaba?" he asked the group. Dojima was the first to answer.

"It was because my sis and your dad went overseas to work for that electronics company." Dojima said as he rubbed the stubble on his chin. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"That's where it all started actually..." Souji answered. His friends all looked at him with surprise as they heard his answer. "My dad was actually tasked by the Kirijo Group to manage the American branch of the company. He found some files that were never meant to be seen ever again by any person, or so what Mitsuru Kirijo told me when I escaped."

"Wait, wait. Escaped? Escaped from what?" Yosuke interrupted. "And what were those files all about?"

Chie smacked Yosuke at the back of his head to stop the stream of questions that was threatening to flow out of Yosuke's mouth.

"Let him finish first, then you can ask all the things you want to, okay?" she hissed at her boyfriend and signalled to Souji to continue.

"Well since Yosuke asked anyway, I was escaping from Shadows and a few hired guns by my father. They want me to be in their sight most of the time because of an experiment that they were going to conduct. The files were about an experiment that was done on Port Island back on 1999. The Kirijo Group gathered a large amount of Shadows to conduct an experiment about time shifts or something like that. I can't really remember what she said..." Souji trailed off, deep in thought as he tried to recall what Mitsuru said to him about what he got himself into.

"The hell...? Dude, your own father was going to use you as a lab rat?!" exclaimed Yosuke as he tried to process everything that his best friend just said. "And Shadows? I thought they only live inside the TV?" he asked no one in particular.

"That's what you said but apparently, that's not the case." answered Dojima. "I saw them myself. They were there and Souji defeated them with Izanagi."

"Wait. He was able to summon Izanagi?" Yukiko asked, astounded by the fact that a Persona was able to materialize in the real world.

_So what we felt at the inn was Souji summoning Izanagi. _concluded Amaterasu inside Yukiko's mind. 'It would certainly seem like it.'

"Yeah. He was. I actually thought he was going to commit suicide right then and there when he pulled out a gun." he said. He looked at the look of confusion that swept the faces of the teenagers except his nephew who was still trying to gather his thoughts.

"Gun? What gun? We don't use a gun to summon our Persona. We just crush cards and they come out." Chie said as she fiddled with the hem of her blouse.

"There were no cards. Just a gun that he shot himself with. In the head, no less." Dojima answered. He rummaged inside the tote bag that he brought earlier and produced a gleaming silver gun that had the letters S.E.E.S engraved on its side.

Souji looked up as his uncle held up the gun.

"That's an evoker. It can make you summon your Persona in the real world although you still need to be in an alternate dimension to be able to summon..." he shook his head and put his chin on his palm.

"Anyway, as I was saying earlier..." Souji said as he tried to remember all the things that Mitsuru and her companions told him.

"That experiment failed and explosion occurred during that time in the area. I think the experiment was to gather Shadows and combine them to make a really strong Shadow that would bring... The Fall... I think was what it was called." Souji said as he pushed his knuckles to his forehead. "The experiment actually made a rift in time which was named The Dark Hour. That's when the Shadows appear in a tower called Tartarus..."

"This is all too much to take in..." whispered Naoto beside him. He noticed the frown on her face but he continued with his explanation anyway.

"Anyway, that was the data my dad got his hands on. But this time, he's going to change the Shadow variable in the experiment with Personas. I don't know why he would do that but it must be because Personas are Shadows who have reached their full potential, therefore using Personas would have a higher chance of completing that experiment." he finished. He then looked around the room and saw their faces of confusion and puzzlement.

"Wait... so those people who were chasing you before..." started Dojima.

"They were former employees working under my dad. He took their egos away, leaving behind the body and the Shadow inside them. He could order them around and they even have the freedom to react to those orders. They're just puppets waiting to be moved by their master..."

"That's sick, man..." commented Kanji. He listened through the whole thing and he couldn't believe someone would actually be able to do that to anyone, no matter how much technology advanced but apparently, he was wrong.

"I know... and he's probably looking for our group and Kirijo's group as well. He needs all the Personas he can get to do his experiment." Souji said as he crossed his arms.

"Wait, don't we get one of those Evoker things?" asked Chie.

"You wouldn't want to use it. It's hard to control your Persona when you summon it." answered Souji. "That's the reason I was brought here in the first place. Besides, you can still fight the Shadows even without your Personas. I've beaten a few of them without using Izanagi when I escaped..."

A few minutes of silence hung over the group as they tried to process all the information that Souji dumped on them.

"So what's your next plan of action?" asked Dojima, making all the heads turn to him.

"I was thinking of getting Rise and Teddie here with us. We need to be together to be able to move. We might be a bigger target that way but we can take on anything if we're together." Souji said, authority evident in his voice.

"Then I'll try to contact Rise-chan right now. If you'll excuse me." Naoto took out her phone and walked out of the room.

"I'll call someone from stocks to check if the TV we use is still there. It was moved back into the storage area because nobody was going to buy something that expensive in a town like Inaba." Yosuke said a-matter-of-factly. He took his phone out and headed out the door himself.

After a few minutes, Naoto went back inside the hospital room.

"Rise-chan would be back in Inaba tomorrow at the latest. She cancelled her appointments and used 'family matters' as the reason to cancel those appointments." she reported to everyone inside the room.

A small smile appeared on their faces as they heard the news.

"We pretty much are like a family..." commented Chie as she swung her legs back and forth.

The door suddenly opened and Yosuke burst through the door. His face was pale and sweat was starting to roll off his forehead.

"Dude... bad news. It looks like your father's just as sharp as you are..." he said in a shaky voice. Souji stood and walked towards his best friend.

"Partner, what happened?" Souji asked as he gripped Yosuke's shoulder.

"Your father just bought our TV yesterday paid in full and to be delivered yesterday at the Kirijo Group's headquarters..." he said as he looked at Souji in the eye.

"Shit..." Kanji cursed under his breath. This wasn't anything like all those years ago. They need to act fast in order to save Teddie. They couldn't spend a week to train before going after the kidnap victim.

"Change of plans. We go to Tokyo. We'll save Teddie." said Souji, his eyes looking forward, full of determination to save his friend.

* * *

**A/N: **Thank you for reading this! I'm sure I lost a lot of readers because of that 3 week hiatus I've been in.

Anyway, thanks for the views, reviews, favorites and the alerts! I appreciate them a lot!:D

**MegaPotato: **Thanks for the review! Glad to know that you think it's getting interesting. I hope I can meet your expectations.:) I like SoujixNaoto with SoujixChie in a close second.

**CometRacer007: **I'm sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I hope it's still to your liking. Thanks for the review!

**Yuuji Narukami: **Sorry for the wait. Too many things going on at school.:\


	4. Unexpected Attack!

__**Author's Note: So... here is the fourth chapter... I'm so sorry for the long delay! I've been held down by my first semester of senior year in college and I simply didn't have the time to update or even pick up the notebook that this story was in.:(**

**Anyway, I hope you get to like this chapter much like the previous chapters. Thanks for the support!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Persona 3 and Persona 4. They belong to ATLUS.**

* * *

_August 15, 2015 8:38 AM_

The atmosphere inside the Dojima household was nothing less than suffocating because of the tension that was present in the room. The room currently held the members of the Investigation Team except for Teddie and a very grim-looking Dojima. They piled into the living room the moment they arrived back from the station where they picked Rise up.

They all made themselves as comfortable as they could despite the situation. Souji, Naoto, Chie and Yosuke sat around the small table in the living room while Yukiko, Kanji and Rise sat on the couch. Dojima pulled a chair from kitchen and sat, facing the small group.

"Where did they deliver the TV?" asked Souji, his tone clipped, indicating that he was trying to hold his emotions in check.

"It was delivered to Tokyo. In the main office of the Kirijo Group." answered Yosuke as he read the details from his phone.

"How the hell did your father know about that TV?!" screeched Kanji as he crossed his arms across his chest. "I mean, nobody could've known what we were doing. Hell, nobody in this damn town was suspicious of a little blonde boy walking around with us!"

"There are many ways of getting information." answered Naoto. She lowered her hat and held it down with her hand. "Maybe Souji-kun's father even had had someone watching us when he transferred here."

"Good hypothesis but what do you kids plan to do now?" Dojima asked and looked straight at Souji.

Souji returned his stare and held it before he turned away and sighed. He looked around the group. Everyone was staring at him, waiting for his words. It was as if his words were like a lifeline for the Investigation Team.

"I have a plan in mind but I know you guys would never agree to it..." he said as he looked around the group. "I'll have to hear what you guys have in mind first before pitching in my idea."

"Why don't we just look for a backdoor or something? There are always backdoors in movies, no matter how big a building it is." Rise suggested as she tried to bring a bit of good cheer inside the room. Her actions were answered only with a raised eyebrow from Souji.

"Every entrance and exit that the Kirijo main office has cameras and guards stationed in there. Not to mention that I have no idea where those cameras are put. We'd be presenting ourselves in a silver platter for them." debunked Souji.

"Then why don't we search for that map then? We could see it in the internet. The internet has everything nowadays." Chie said as she tried to be her usual cheery self.

"Not everything." answered Naoto. "I've tried to search for anything about the Kirijo main office or even their website but it seems that the site is under construction or it is under maintenance." she added as she showed her phone to Chie. "It would've been the safest way to get into the building.

"Then let's just charge in there!" shouted Kanji. He stood up and cracked his knuckles. "If there's no way else to do it, then let's take it to them straight!"

"That's not a bad idea..." said Yosuke as he rubbed his chin with his hand. "...Except that we could become Swiss cheese after breaking through the door!" he added and threw his arms up in frustration. "There's no way that we could get in there without getting detected!"

"We have to try, Yosuke-kun." Yukiko reprimanded him. She took out her fan from her pocket and hit Yosuke at the back of his head.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Yosuke screamed as he rubbed the back of his head.

"That's what you get for having such negative thoughts!" Chie scolded. She looked at everyone in the Investigation Team. "We can do this! We defeated a goddess, how hard can this be?" she added with a smile.

"Chie's right. We should be able to do this. We've overcome even bigger odds than this." said Yukiko as she gave them all a small smile.

The mood in the room lightened a bit with this reminder of their achievements during the arduous year of fighting for their lives and the truth inside the TV.

"That's all well and good but what's your plan to get into the office?" asked Dojima. He was not in the mood to listen to their reminiscing. He didn't understand a thing they said anyway.

"What Kanji suggested was somewhat close to what I had in mind..." answered Souji. Everyone in the room looked at him with a look that clearly said 'are-you-kidding-me'. Even Kanji himself was looking at his senpai with wide eyes.

"We're not going to be breaking through the door though." Souji assured them. "We'll surrender." he finished with a smile.

"You gotta be kiddin' me... You just escaped and now you wanna go BACK to them?!" Kanji roared as he flailed his arms. He didn't want to be someone's lab rat and he's sure as hell doesn't want any of his friends to be a treated as lab rats.

"I've got a plan, don't worry." Souji answered as he leaned towards the table, propping his elbows on the table to support his head with his hands. "It is a bit risky but we'll have to make do with what we have."

"Well, let's hear it." urged Yosuke.

"From what the Persona-users from Iwatodai told me, we have advanced capabilities because of our Personas. It's like the Personas manifest themselves through us in this world. That means we have our Persona's strength. The only downside is that we can still be killed and we can't be revived. That means, one fatal shot can put us down." Souji explained.

"Well what good is that then? Sure, we can knock them into next week but they can shoot us on the spot if we just waltzed in there with fists raised!" argued Yosuke.

"But they wouldn't kill us on the spot. They need our Personas for their experiment." reasoned out Naoto.

"Yeah, but what about after they get our Personas? We'll only be baggage after they take them from us!" cried Chie as she gripped Yosuke's arm.

Souji rubbed his chin with his hand, thinking through the plan in his head. He took a look at everyone in the room, making adjustments to his proposed plan.

"Then... why don't we split the group into two? One group will be the ones walking into the building while the other group stays outside and look for any other entrance." he suggested.

There was a heavy silence in the room as the members of the Investigation Team pondered their leader's proposal. After a few minutes, Yukiko broke the silence.

"So how are we going to split the group?"

"The people who I think will be in the first group would be me, Yosuke, Chie and Yukiko. Then the other group would be the kouhais because I think this grouping would be the best to balance out the teams. The leader of the other group would be Naoto." he looked at his girlfriend and nodded to her.

"I'm counting on you to make the rational choices when we get there." Souji said as he looked at the other members if ever they have objections. He only saw uneasiness at their eyes but no one said a thing about the plan.

"I should say the same to you..." Naoto mumbled back as she pulled her hat down to cover her eyes. "You have the knack to make irrational choices when the need arises for a crucial decision."

"Don't worry about him. We'll keep him in check." stated Yukiko with a smile.

"Thank you Yukiko-senpai. It's a comforting thought to have you with him." answered Naoto with a smile of her own.

"When do you plan to leave for Tokyo?" Dojima suddenly said from his place. "You guys need to get ready nonetheless. What would you need for weapons?"

The group of young adults smiled a bit from Dojima's question. Dojima raised an eyebrow because of their smiles and cleared his throat.

"What are you all smiling about?"

"Don't worry about our weapons. We can take care of that." Yosuke said as his smile widened into a grin.

* * *

_August 15, 2015 11:43 AM_

The small group walked inside Junes to search for inconspicuous items to hide underneath their clothes when they make their move to rescue Teddie. Souji immediately headed to the sports section with Naoto tailing him. Naoto tried to keep up with Souji's long strides with quick, short strides. Souji suddenly stopped in front of a glass case of baseball bats causing Naoto to crash into him.

"Sorry." he simply said and looked at the bats in display, scrutinizing each of them and pointing to a short, metal bat. The sales clerk took it out and handed it over to Souji. Souji tossed the bat from his left hand to his right hand, testing its weight. He took a pose and swung the bat, creating a whistling sound from the swing.

"I'll take it." he said with a small smile and gave it back to the clerk.

"Thank you for shopping at Junes! Please wait here while I get this in a box." and with that, the clerk turned and looked for a box for the bat.

"I guess you have other questions for me?" asked Souji as he turned to his girlfriend. Naoto stiffened as she met eyes with Souji.

"I just wanted to ask, Souji-kun... why didn't you put me in the same group as you?" she asked as she played with the edge of her cap.

"Like I said, it was to balance out-"

"Don't give me that!" Naoto cut him off. She removed her cap and hit Souji across his chest with it. She gripped the cap tightly, trying to regain her composure. "As if... as if having Rise-chan on our group is what you would call 'balanced'!" she argued.

"It is balanced. I would think that the three of you are suited for a team. Not only have you known each other better than any other member of our group but I also saw how the three of you help each other during our trips inside the TV." reasoned Souji, slightly exasperated.

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" she asked quietly, her knuckles white from gripping her cap tightly.

"Don't tell me, after all this time; you're starting to doubt me? What have I ever done to have you act like that?" Souji asked, his temper rising by the minute. He failed to notice that everything was stationary. His body felt hot and his vision was only on the person in front of him.

"What? Can't say anything?!" he taunted but Naoto only stared at him with blank eyes. She then smiled; a sneer that didn't match Naoto's personality at all. She began to walk towards Souji, her arms outstretched, reaching for his neck. Souji started to step back until his back hit the glass case of the baseball bats.

"What's wrong, Souji-kun? Can't stand up to me?" she asked sweetly, her voice distorted much like her Shadow's but more sinister. She started to giggle until it fully escalated to a loud cackle as she reached Souji's neck. She dug her nails deeper into his neck earning a pained yelp from Souji.

"You know... it would be better if we just give ourselves up. Think about why your father is going through such a tedious task like keeping you alive for your Personas and just killing you outright..." Naoto's double whispered into his ears, all the while nibbling on his ear. "Like this!"

The hands suddenly tightened up around Souji's throat, making him gasp for air. He wanted to call out to anyone who could help him, anyone who could see what was happening. He looked from side to side, only being aware of the stillness of their surroundings. Noticing that there's a slim chance of having anyone to help him, he reached for the back pocket of his jeans for the Evoker. He got a hold of the handle of the gun but his eyesight was beginning to blur.

'Shit...! I still... have to... save... Te...ddie...'

"HWA-TAAAH!"

Souji barely was able to hear the loud thud that followed the loud battle cry as the pressure around his neck disappeared. He let himself slump to the ground as he heard his friends scrambling around, trying to cover him and fight the doppelganger. He opened his eyes to see Naoto, Yukiko and Rise hovering over him and the others fighting the copy. He stood up after taking a few deep inhales of air and turned to the glass case behind him. He kicked the glass and retrieved a bat.

"Guard Rise. Support us if you can but watch over Rise." he ordered Naoto and Yukiko. He ran towards the fray and took a swing at the now mangled form of the copy. Its skin was now falling off, showing off white skin beneath its cover. Its red eyes wide with mirth from the battle taking place. The sneer was now wider, taking over half of its face, its head tilted to the side. It caught Souji's swing and looked at him.

"This is fun! The name's Icarus by the way! Nice to meet you!" it said with a high-pitched voice. It shed off its cover and fully revealed itself to the Investigation Team. The figure was that of a male child with the common cloth draped around its small waist. There were also wings made of metal protruding from behind his back. "Guess I have to test you out for your father." He did a back flip, landing in front of the ones assaulting him. He raised one arm towards the Investigation Team, a familiar energy forming in his hand.

"Scatter!" shouted Souji as he jumped to the side to try to avoid the Megidolaon spell that was just shot by Icarus. Souji grabbed the Evoker from his back pocket and stood up. He charged at Icarus, his bat raised high while the Evoker pointed at his temple.

"Let's do this, Izanagi!"

A loud gunshot followed by the sound of breaking glass announced the arrival of the black-cloaked Persona. The blue shards of glass were still forming his lower-body but Souji charged either way. He started with a downward strike which Icarus parried with his wings.

"Tch. Tough bastard." Souji muttered as he leapt back as Yosuke aimed a strike of his kitchen knives on Icarus' neck. Icarus easily caught Yosuke's wrists and threw him at the charging Kanji on his side. Chie decided to jump in on the fray with a roundhouse kick to Icarus' head which was caught by the palm of the child.

"Is this all you can do? You disappoint-" he didn't get to finish his taunting as Izanagi brought the blade of his weapon down on one of Icarus' wings. It fell to the floor with a loud metallic thud before disintegrating to a cloud of white mist. Izanagi stood up, towering over their enemy, his yellow eyes trained on Icarus.

Icarus jumped back to make some space for himself and looked at the Persona. He chuckled a bit until breaking into a full-blown laughter as he looked at Souji.

"I see you got yourself an Evoker from the Kirijo bitch. Not that it changes anything. You can't fully control your Persona when you use that." he stated as he made his head spin a full 180° to look at his now damaged wing.

"Now this won't do..." he muttered. His body suddenly tensed and suddenly a new wing identical to the one Izanagi hacked off emerged from inside his body. "That's better."

"Dude! How's that fair? He can freaking regenerate and all it takes for us to die is a freaking hit from him!" whined Yosuke as Icarus tried to move his newly regenerated wing.

"When has it ever been fair for us?" answered Souji as he readied himself to sprint at their enemy. "We just do what we can..." he looked at the others and smirked. "Just like the old times."

"Yeah! Souji-kun's right. We've faced much harder opponents than this guy!" agreed Chie as she stretched her legs.

"We all had our Personas that time though... Ah, to hell with it! Let's just thrash this thing and get to Tokyo!" shouted Yosuke as he threw one kitchen knife and caught it, making the hilt smack into his palm.

"Then let's get to it!" screechedKanji as he hefted the steel bench that he purchased in Junes. "We can take this guy even without our Personas!"

"Oh really? I'd like-" Icarus never finished his taunt when he was cut off when a bullet hit him in the eye. He howled in agony as he clutched his eye. He removed his hand from his eye, looking straight at Naoto, one eye a darker shade of red from Naoto's shot. "You'll pay for that, tomboy!"

Icarus dashed towards whre Naoto, Yukiko and Rise were. He charged another Megidolaon on his right hand, his left hand outstretched towards Naoto's neck. Just then, a large hand grabbed him from behind and slammed him into the floor. When he got to his senses, he saw Izanagi, hilding him firm on the ground with his hand.

"Get away from me!" Icarus shouted and shot the Megidolaon spell on Izanagi. Izanagi let go of him to evade the spell, making the ceiling blow to smithereens. Icarus tried to scramble into his feet but he was met with Kanji's steel chair and he was brought back down on his back.

"Guys! Time for an old-school beatdown!" called out Yosuke to the others. They all yelled their approval and charged towards their enemy on the ground.

For a few seconds, there was an assortment of sounds of metal hitting against metal and skin. When they stopped and stepped back from their enemy's location, they saw that Icarus was nowhere to be seen.

"I see that you guys are good. This might just be a good enough challenge for us. Well, good luck in getting to the office!" said Icarus' voice, echoing in the whole floor. After the voice disappeared, all the damage that their battle caused was being reverted back into their original state. The bat in Souji's hand floted back into the glass case and the case was repaired. After all the things were back to normal in the floor, time resumed and the floor was back to being busy.

"Well... that was certainly entertaining..." sighed Yosuke as he slumped to the floor.

"As 'entertaining 'as it was, we need to move fast as time is not on our side." said Naoto as she walked towards Souji. She grabbed Souji's hand and intertwined her fingers with his. She felt Souji tense up and she took a look at his face, shooting a questioning look at him. Souji just forced a smile and shook his head. He turned to the clerk that packed his bat and took the box.

"C'mon. We need to get ready. I'd like to at least be in Tokyo by tonight. It might provide the stand-by group to search for another entrance." he said to the others as he walked towards the cashier to pay for his weapon.

* * *

_August 15, 2015 1:00 PM_

_Kirijo Group Tokyo Headquarters_

Icarus entered the room with the label _Executive Office_ at the top floor of the headquarters of the Kirijo Group. He proceeded to sit at the couch in front of the new TV that the new CEO of the Kirijo group bought.

"Shouldn't you change the name of the company now that you're the CEO?" asked Icarus, curious as to why he still hasn't changed the name. "You are the one in charge right now that the Kirijo bitch is in hiding right?"

"Yes I am but we need to take care of Kirijo's little group or we might find ourselves being attacked from both sides." answered the man behind the CEO's table. He had short, dark gray hair with cold calculating eyes. He wore a black suit with a white tie.

"I guess that makes sense... but with the power of our 'executives' we don't have much to fear." answered Icarus. "Whatever. You're the boss, Seta-san."

* * *

**A/N: There you have it! I hope people are still reading this.**

**And thank you, for everyone who left reviews, and the readers who added this to their alerts and favorites. You guys are the best!**


	5. Unexpected Turn of Events II

__**Author's Note: How's it going everyone? Here's the fifth installment of this story. Fast update, no?**

**I hope you like this chapter as I really worked hard for each and every chapter that I put out here.:) Anyway, this is a way of me making it up to you readers for the delayed updates before.:D**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed typing it!:)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from the Persona series. ATLUS owns them. I only own the plot.**

* * *

_August 15, 2015 9:42 PM_

_Tokyo City_

The Investigation Team walked towards the streets of Tokyo, heading towards one of the towering buildings located in the business district of the city. People stared at them not only because of the pop idol Risette but also because of the large bag that Kanji had slung over his shoulder.

"Damn... We stick out like sore thumbs here..." muttered Chie as she looked left and right at the people they were passing by.

"No use thinking about it. We do look kind of out of place here." said Yukiko as she looked at her surroundings. Deep inside, she felt thrilled to get out of Inaba again whatever the circumstances may be. "Let's just enjoy the sights while we still can. We don't know when we'll have another opportunity to leave the countryside again." she added with a smile.

"We're not here on a trip, Yukiko!" Chie whispered harshly as the tall building of the Kirijo headquarters loomed ever closer.

Souji lead them to a cafe' a couple of streets away from the building. They took a large table outside the cafe' making themselves comfortable in their seats. Kanji put the bag he was carrying beside his chair and stretched his back and arms.

"Damn. Why do I have to be the one to carry these?" he mumbled as he kicked the bag.

"Be a man and suck it up! Put those muscles to good use Kanji-kun!" scolded Rise as she called a waiter over. "7 cups of coffee please." she told the waiter. The waiter nodded and went inside the cafe' to make their orders. After a few minutes, their order came. They took a few sips of the coffee before Souji broke the silence.

"Okay guys; let's go over the plan once more." Souji said as he put his cup down on the table. "The first group will enter the building through the front entrance. We'll surrender ourselves to them and hopefully, they will keep us together. We'll let them lead us into the building and if we're deep enough inside, we'll fight off any of the guards and employees they throw at us." he said as he looked at the group. He received worried looks but no opposition. He took another sip of his coffee and continued.

"The second group will be outside the building, searching for another way inside." he looked at the younger members of the group. "We'll count on you to infiltrate the building successfully. You need to find us inside the building since we'll need the weapons that we have." he said pointing to the large bag beside Kanji.

"We'll have no problem locating you if they don't find the transmitters that we've placed in your personage. The only problem is how we infiltrate the facility..." muttered Naoto.

"If you can't find a way, you can make one." answered Souji. "But I wouldn't want to use that if at all possible. It would put the operation in jeopardy. Not to mention that the police would be all over the place if you used that."

"I guess that would be right. It would only be our last resort." Naoto nodded. She took out a black GPS locator from her coat and checked whether it was working. She saw four red dots on the screen and hid it inside her coat again. "Everything is in order. We should commence the rescue of Teddie now if we want to make it in time."

She received six determined nods from her fellow Investigation Team members.

"Let's do this!" shouted Yosuke as he jumped from his chair, earning a few questioning looks from passing people.

"Pipe down, idiot!" scolded Chie as she smacked Yosuke at the back of his head.

_August 15. 2015 10:14 PM_

Souji, Yosuke, Chie and Yukiko walked towards the entrance of the Kirijo headquarters. The building was a tall, white, 50-storey building with the sign of the company on the entrance. The building gave off an intimidating aura, especially for them since they know that they would be inside without knowing what was waiting for them.

"I hate this... I am SO hating this!" whined Yosuke as they entered the main lobby of the building. He pocketed his hands and started playing with the seams of his pockets.

"Whining about it will not help. Just stick to the plan and everything would work out... hopefully." said Souji as an employee in a lab coat walked towards them, flanked with two large men in suits. Souji's group stopped when they saw them.

"Welcome back Seta-san. We've been expecting you." said the main in the lab coat. "I was expecting more of you..." he added with a cynical smile.

"Please come this way and please don't resist. We don't want any casualties inside the building." he said as the two men behind him walked forward and stood behind them. "We'll conduct the several tests on you in the laboratory. After that, we'll do the procedure to extract your Personas out of your body."

"Shut up and let's go." snapped Souji. He glared at the man with a passion as he balled his hands into fists as he restrained himself from lunging at the other man. The older man just laughed and turned on his heel.

"If that's what you want, then follow me." he ordered them and walked off in the direction he just came from. The two men behind them nudged them as if ordering them to walk after the man. They conceded and followed the man in the lab coat.

_You wanted excitement, you got excitement._ stated Susano-O from inside Yosuke's head. Yosuke wanted nothing more than to rip his hair off as he tried to ignore his Persona.

'Could you please shut up? I'm already on edge here!' he thought as he followed Souji's lead. He turned his head to look at the two men walking behind them, trying to size them up. They didn't look as if they had emotions. It looked as if they were walking corpses more than anything.

"Are these the guys you fought when you returned to Inaba?" Yosuke whispered to Souji as they reached the elevator.

"Yeah. They're employees of this company that were stripped of their egos as I said before in the hospital. Think of them as Shadows in human shells." answered Souji as they entered the elevator. The man in the lab coat took out a key card from inside his lab coat and flashed it at the sensor in the elevator.

"Going down." he announced as he flashed them another cynical grin. The elevator lurched as it began to descend towards the depths of the Kirijo headquarters.

_Are the transmitters that Naotoput in you going to work underground?_ asked Amaterasu from inside Yukiko's mind. Yukiko fidgeted with the hem of her blouse. 'I don't really know... I hope they do or we're in deep trouble.' answered Yukiko.

After a few minutes, the elevator stopped. When doors opened, they were greeted with the sight of a high-ceilinged room with large capsules on one side and large computers and several large screens that displayed images and the progress of the experiment. It showed 30%. There were also images of Personas in the monitors. One was of that of a large, red robot with two large revolving balls on its shoulders. The other was a woman with a round shield and a spear. It also wore a flowing dress and a roman helmet on her head.

'So they already have a couple of Personas...' thought Souji as they walked further down the room.

"I see you are intrigued with the figures on the screen." the man in the lab coat said to them. He turned around and pointed to the images of the Personas in the screen.

"This" he said with pride as he pointed on the red robot. "is Kala-Nemi. We extracted him from a highschool student named Ken Amada. He's one of the reasons why the progress is at already 30%. The other reason is Athena." he said as he pointed at the other image. "She was extracted from the last Anti-Shadow weapon that this company made. Together, they added 15% to the progress. The other 15% was from the employees of the Kirijo group. There were a lot of them but since they haven't realized their full potential, their contribution was minimal." he explained as he turned his back to them.

"Those capsules are-" he was unable to finish his statement as Chie kicked him at the back of his head. Yukiko and Chie quickly rushed towards the fallen scientist. They quickly searched the pockets for the key card and found it in one of the pockets inside the lab coat. The two men behind them roared as they saw what happened to the scientist.

"Holy shit!" Yosuke shouted as he and Souji jumped to the side to avoid the punches that the Shadows directed at where they were. "Dude! These were the guys you fought? They seem scarier than usual too!" he said as he picked himself up.

"Shut up and find a weapon! We can defeat them but they won't go down that easy. Just aim for their knees! That slows them down!" Souji shouted back. He ran towards the capsules and stood in front of the pipes that were connected to the capsules. One of the Shadows followed him, charging towards him with its fist raised to knock his head off. Souji jumped to the right and the fist of the Shadow went straight for the pipe. The pipe became loose and Souji grabbed two of the pipes and wrenched it off.

"Yosuke!" he shouted as he threw one of the pipes to his partner. Yosuke caught it and swung it towards the back of the head of the Shadow. It turned on him and threw a punch. He yelped and dropped on his stomach to avoid the hit. He crawled towards Souji and straightened himself up.

"Real smooth, partner." said Souji with a smirk.

"Shut it. I have no choice or my face would be a bloody pulp by now!" he argued as they looked at the Shadow. "You got a plan, partner?"

"Like I said, aim for the knees. After that we can beat it down to the ground." he said and dashed towards the Shadow. He looked to his left and saw Yosuke doing the same thing. He looked back at the Shadow and aimed for the knee. There was a resounding bang as the pipe made contact with the arm of the Shadow. It then let out a roar of pain as Yosuke hit the other knee repeatedly with his pipe. It fell down on its knees and Souji swung his pipe with all his might towards the face of the Shadow. He felt his arm go numb as the pipe made contact with the face of the Shadow. Yosuke did the same thing as it was falling, finishing off the Shadow.

"C'mon! We gotta help Chie and Yukiko!" shouted Yosuke as he ran towards the direction where Chie and Yukiko were. Souji ran after him, his hand grabbing the pipe, ready to strike. He almost bumped into Yosuke as he suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?!" he asked Yosuke. Yosuke pointed towards the scene in front of them. He looked at the direction his partner was pointing to and relaxed his posture. In front of them were Chie and Yukiko, securing the scientist from before, the Shadow just beginning to wither away into a black mist.

"Huh... I forgot. This is Chie we're talking about." said Yosuke as he began to walk towards the pair. Souji followed and stopped just in front of the girls.

"We have to move into a more secure location. They might order more Shadows to come here." he said as he looked around the room. "We'll bring him along too." he added as he nodded towards the out cold scientist.

"Let's search for some stairs or something. I'm sure there's nice surprise waiting for us in the elevator if we take it up to the first floor." stated Yukiko as she pocketed the key card.

Yosuke and Chie put the scientist on Souji's back as they got ready to leave the underground laboratory.

"It's up to Naoto and the others now to meet up with us." said Chie as she stretched her arms and legs.

_August 15, 2015 10:45 PM_

Naoto and the others walked around the grounds of the Kirijo headquarters, trying to make heads of tails of the situation. When the operation started, everything went smoothly until the transmission of the GPS couldn't detect the transmitters anymore.

That was 30 minutes ago and now they are trying to find a way into the building.

"Naoto-kuuuun!" whined Rise as her shoulders slumped from walking around for 30 minutes straight. "Can we take a break?"

"We can't take a break! What if something was happening? We need to get to them now! We have no idea what's happening down there!" shouted Naoto.

"Calm the hell down! Both of you!" screamed Kanji. He adjusted the straps of the bag of equipment that he has been carrying since arriving in Tokyo. "Calm down and think! Especially you, Naoto. We know that out of the three of us, you're the most rational."

Naoto tried to regain her composure and pulled her cap low to cover her eyes. She surveyed their current surroundings and approached the wall of the building. She knocked on it a few times, hearing a hollow noise. She pulled out her revolver and knocked the handle on the wall again and again, until it made a crack on the wall.

"Kanji-kun, please use Souji-kun's bat on this crack over here." she indicated on the small crack that she created. Kanji took a look and put the bag down on the floor. He rummaged through the bag and finally pulled out the metal bat. He swung at the wall hard, creating a large crack. He swung at it again, this time making the wall cave-in a bit. He kicked the wall and made the wall break down.

"Looks like we won't need the C4 Dojima-san lent us." chirped Rise as she ducked under the hole. She pulled out a flashlight from her bag, illuminating the small room that they broke into. "Nobody here. Just some files and CDs." she said as she pulled herself out of the hole.

"Good enough. At least we're already inside." muttered Naoto as she ducked and entered the hole. Kanji put the bat inside the bag and threw it inside before following after them.

Kanji straightened himself up before picking up the bag and slung it back onto his back. He walked towards where the two girls were huddled together, looking at the GPS locator of Naoto.

"It looks like they are still together..." she stated as she pointed at the four red dots moving together. "or the transmitters might be discovered and they're trying to lure us into their trap."

"Maybe we should just check if those dots are Senpai and the others. If not, we could just deal with them on our own." suggested Kanji as they noticed the dots moving in a circular movement. "I think they're on a staircase. Notice how they move in a circular motion? They might've been underground and that's why we lost the signal earlier."

"That is a plausible plan but you need to consider that we're only two fighters. Rise-chan has no experience whatsoever in fighting." countered Naoto. "We must still be careful of the possibility of an enemy trap. But regardless, we'll try to track them down by following these dots."

"Don't worry about me! I'm more worried for our Souji-kun and the others. We don't know what happened to them when those dots disappeared..." Rise said as she looked around the room. "Why don't we look around? We might find important data for us to use later."

"I doubt they would put the data here. If anything, I think the data would be in a more secure place than this room." argued Naoto. "Notice the lack of guards? I think the data here is only for the data and the information on its employees."

"Let's just go. We'll be able to catch up to them if we leave now." stated Kanji as he walked towards the door. The suddenly opened and an employee walked inside. His eyes widened as he saw Kanji and made to run back out of the room but Kanji pulled him back by the collar of his suit. Naoto and Rise watched as Kanji struggled to clamp his hand over his mouth.

"What're you guys just looking for?! Help me with this punk!" Kanji snarled as he successfully covered the employee's mouth.

Naoto walked forward and sat down to their level and looked at the scared eyes of the employee. She untied the tie around his neck and restrained his arms. After securely tying up the wrists, she stood up and motioned for Kanji to stand up. The employee stood up as well but made no move to escape.

"We will not harm you. We just want you to tell us where the stairs are." Naoto stated as she looked at the trembling employee. She looked at the GPS locator again. The dots stopped at its current location. She pocketed the device and turned her back on the employee.

"If you don't want to, we can just leave you here with a bullet hole on your forehead and get another employee to help us." she threatened as she pulled out her gun from its holster.

"Okay, okay! I'll talk! Just don't kill me!" he screeched as he trembled harder than before. He received a smack from the back of his head from Kanji.

"Tone it down, dumbass!" he said as he fixed an irritated glare on the employee. The employee pressed his lips into a fine line, sweat rolling down his face as he tried to contain his fear.

"Now that that's done and over with, can we go now, please?" suggested Rise. She started to walk towards the exit but she stopped herself before going out and turned to Naoto. "By the way, Naoto-kun... what if they have the cameras in the hallways?" she asked.

"Don't worry. They're already aware that we are inside." Naoto answered grimly as he returned her gun from its holster.

"What are you talking about?" Kanji asked as he kept his hold on the collar of the employee.

Naoto simply pointed towards the corner of the room. Her two companions turned their gazes to where she was pointing. They saw the camera, attached to the ceiling, its lens diligently recording their every move.

"Well, shit." mumbled Kanji as he clenched his free hand tighter.

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**A/N: And there you go! Hope you really enjoy this story! And a shout out to Aoi Hyodou for adding this story to the Souji x Naoto 4-Ever! community. Thanks for acknowledging this story as worthy for entering the community!:D**

**Thanks for the support! Those reviews, favorites and alerts are very much appreciated!**


	6. Unexpected Decisions

**Author's Note: Here's the 6th chapter and hopefully you guys are still enjoying this story as much as I am. I keep saying this on every freaking almost every freaking note but I just want you guys to enjoy reading this story. I think this story is something that we are making together. Your support is what drives me to do this.**

**Alright! Enough of that stuff! Read on and enjoy this chapter! Thanks for the support guys!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Persona series characters. ATLUS does.**

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_August 15, 2015 10:55 PM_

"Dude... change with me... It's your turn to carry this dead weight..." wheezed Yosuke as the ascended the stairs they found in the underground laboratory. They climbed countless flights of stairs now and he and Souji switched with carrying the scientist. Souji stopped walking and turned to him and crouched. Yosuke crouched too and passed the unconscious scientist to his partner. He then stood up and stretched his back, removing the kinks in his spine.

"Damn... he looks heavier than he looks." he said as he took the broken pipes from Souji. He took point and they continued their walking. 'I wish I brought my headphones.' He thought as he tried to steady his breathing.

_Quit your whining and just go do what you're supposed to do. _answered Susano-O. 'Shut up.' came the curt reply from Yosuke.

"I'm sick of these stairs!" cried Chie as she continued trudging behind the group. "I want to breathe not-so-stale air! I want to-" she was cut-off by Yosuke who became irritated from her constant whining.

"We get it, okay?! You're not the only one who wants to get out of this freaking staircase! We just have to do what we gotta do and we can get out of here." shouted Yosuke as he slammed one of the pipes to the wall. The sound reverberated throughout the staircase together with his voice.

The group stopped walking as they took the time to calm down. Souji readjusted his hold on the scientist and got turned to Chie.

"It's just a little more, Chie. We can do this." assured Souji as he let a small smile appear on his face. "We can't let them have Teddie... we saw what they did to the other Persona-users... Who knows what they'll do to him if they find out that he's a Shadow?" he asked Chie. Chie just opened and closed her mouth, her mouth not being able to form the words to answer their leader. He then turned to face Yosuke.

"Yosuke, you need to understand that we are all tired and on edge right now." he scolded his partner. "The faster we do this, the faster we can get out of this mess." he finished. After a few minutes of silence, nobody spoke.

"Damn... How can you stay so calm in a situation like this?" muttered Yosuke as he rubbed the back of his head.

"He's right, Souji-kun. I would think that you of all people would be under more stress than all of us put together. The enemy is your father after all." commented Yukiko as she stood beside Souji.

"It doesn't matter..." answered Souji as he nodded at Yosuke to start walking again. Yosuke complied as he started walking again.

'He wasn't much of a father to me anyway...' he thought bitterly as he followed Yosuke.

They walked for minutes until they saw a door. On top of it was a green, neon sign saying the words 'FIRE EXIT'. The group took a collective sigh of relief as they finally reached the ground floor of the establishment. Souji sat down on one of the steps and propped up the still unconscious scientist on the wall.

"We can take turns on taking watches." he ordered as he stretched his back. "Chie you look out for anyone trying to follow us from below, Yosuke, you watch for enemies from above and watch the door too. Someone might walk in on us." he added as he gestured towards the door of the fire exit. They both nodded and took their respective posts.

Yukiko took a seat next to Souji and took out her fan, fanning herself and Souji to cool down their bodies from their trek up the stairs. Souji smiled at her generous action and relaxed his body, relishing on the cool air that was coming from the fan of Yukiko. After a few minutes, Yukiko broke the silence.

"What do we do now, Souji-kun?" she asked as she continued fanning. She took a look at the scientist, making sure that he was still knocked out. After making sure that he was still, unconscious, she stared at the door of the fire exit, silently praying that enemies would go and force their way into their hiding place. She wished to watch Souji fight again, his eyes trailing the enemy and the way his arms move as he swiftly delivers devastating blows to their enemies. At the same time, she just wished to have their other members would make it to where they were.

"We'll have to wait for Naoto and the others here. Hopefully, they will find us here. We do have the little transmitters that... Naoto stuck on... us..." he trailed off as he searched his pocket for the transmitter. His eyes widened as he searched his other pockets. "Shit!" he cursed as he ordered the others to check if their transmitters are still attached to them.

"Dude! Things just keep getting better and better." Yosuke whined as he ran his hands all over his body, trying to feel out his transmitter. "I don't have mine."

Souji looked at the two women and he received two shakes of their heads.

Souji took a deep breath, trying to think when the transmitters were taken away. He never remembered when their enemies had a chance to take them away and ran a hand through his hair.

"When did they get them?" he asked to no one in particular as he stood up. He turned and walked towards Yosuke to grab one of the pipes. He turned to the scientist as the said scientist chuckled until it turned to loud laughter. The whole group turned to him, shooting him with questioning glares.

"No need to look at me with such hate-filled eyes. I'm not used to it." he said as he stood up and relieved himself from the bindings that Chie and Yukiko put on him. He then turned his gaze towards the group, his eyes glowing with a blue light. He flashed them with a wide grin, making the scientist's face stretch. "You were pulled into a space where only I and the other godly beings can traverse. That's when we took those 'transmitters' of yours." he said as he looked at Souji and the others. Chie crept up on him and delivered a swift kick at the scientist.

It hit nothing but air.

"Now, now. There's no need to be hasty." the scientist said as he appeared at Yosuke's back. Yosuke jumped and took an instinctive swing at his back. The pipe hit the wall, creating another reverberating sound throughout the fire exit.

"How will I be able to talk when all of you are so aggressive?" the voice came from below them this time. The scientist was leaning against the wall, a smirk plastered on his face.

"Maybe we don't want to hear what you have to say, that's why we're attacking you!" shouted Chie as she readied herself to deliver another kick. The scientist then stood up straight with, looking at straight at Souji.

"We would have noticed if there was a change in our surroundings." Souji calmly stated as he stared right back at their enemy. "We noticed it back when Icarus attacked us at Junes." he added as he walked towards the scientist.

"You underestimate me too much." drawled the scientist. "We gods have our ways. Remember what Icarus said. I sent him there so he could gauge your group's strength." he continued as he walked up to them. He stopped in front of Souji, just within the pipe's reach.

"So you purposely made that dimension so that we could fight back..." concluded Yosuke from the back of the group.

"Precisely." answered the scientist. "You see, I control time. I can create spaces where you mortals can't even move and have no access to any of your senses. Pretty much like what I've done with when you attacked me. It looks like I've teleported but I just stopped time and strolled to where I want to stand."

"Just who the hell are you?" asked Yosuke as he shuddered to think what other abilities their enemies have.

"I am Chronos. As I said, I control time." he casually replied. "You don't have time to waste. Those transmitters might be attached to 'employees' of this company. Who knows what'll happen to your other friends if you stay here and engage with me in meaningless banter?" he said as he laughed. The blue light disappeared from the eyes of the scientist and he crumpled to the floor, dead.

"Shit. We're in deep shit now, man." groaned Yosuke as he turned to the door. He walked towards it and pressed his ear against it. "We've got freaking company guys." he moaned as he pulled the others against up the stairs. Just then, the door was blown off its hinges as several Shadows stormed their way into the fire exit. Chie and Souji engaged them, pushing the closest Shadows with their attacks. The Shadows crashed against the other Shadows, slowing their advance towards Souji's group.

"Run!" shouted Souji as he pushed Chie to run towards the others. He followed them after pushing another Shadow towards its allies to buy themselves some time.

'Naoto... please be alright...' he thought as his group sprinted up the stairs.

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_August 15, 2015 11:04 PM_

Kanji held the employee's hands tightly as the employee led them through the building. Behind him, Naoto kept the GPS locator out as she kept a close look at the movements of the dots. Rise kept in pace with Naoto, clutching Souji's bat as they thought that she should have something to protect herself if ever they were attacked.

He looked around the building, not encountering another employee in the hallways or coming out of the rooms. He got a feeling that there was something that was going to happen and that they were going straight into a trap. He shook his head as he shrugged the feeling off. There was no other way but to move forward and meet up with the other group.

"We should speed it up. We can catch up to them now that they seem to have stopped." Naoto suddenly said as she gestured to the locator. Kanji nodded and nudged the employee to go faster. The employee whimpered in response but said nothing.

The employee led them to a series of winding hallways until they were in front of a large metal door with 'FIRE EXIT' on top of the door. Naoto checked the locator and found that they were directly below the dots. Kanji took a look at Naoto and she gave him a curt nod with her lips forming a thin line. Kanji nodded back and turned back at the quivering back of the employee.

"Sorry 'bout this." he muttered as he grabbed the employee's head on the metal door of the fire exit. "One more for good measure." he muttered again as he slammed the employee's head again on the door. He let of the employee, letting him fall to the ground with a thud.

"You could've just hit him on the back of the head or something..." said Rise, her voice sympathetic. She looked at the door where there was now a dent made from the force of the employee's head banging on it twice. There was also a small trace of blood on the dent of the door.

"I don't know how to do that! I might break his neck if I did that!" argued Kanji as he turned to face the two women. "Besides, this is better. He'll be knocked out for a long time!" he added as he set the employee's body aside and opened the door. He picked up the employee and threw him inside the fire exit.

"It certainly is better that way but you didn't have to do it twice." Naoto commented as she walked inside the stairwell. "They should be pretty high up. We'll need to move fast to catch up to them."

"Wait." Kanji said as he grabbed Naoto's shoulder. Naoto stopped and turned to face him, slightly glaring at him from suddenly grabbing her.

"What is it now, Kanji?" she asked as she crossed her arms across her chest, waiting for him to answer.

"This could be all a trap! You've gotta notice the hallways! There were no employees walking around or something!" he shouted at her while making wild hand gestures. "Or maybe you were too focused on that damned locator to notice." he added bitterly.

"I did notice the lack of employees but that would be understandable." Naoto rebutted as she continued to glare at Kanji. "There should be less employees milling around here because of the time. Another reason would be because they were ordered to go out of the building because of our intrusion." she released a sigh and continued. "Please don't throw accusations at me when I am perfectly capable of noticing these things." she finished and grabbed Kanji's hand. She pried it off of her shoulder and walked inside the fire exit.

"I have to agree with her, Kanji-kun. That was kinda brutal, even for you." commented Rise as she followed Naoto inside.

'So I'm the bad guy now?' thought Kanji bitterly. He followed them inside and slammed the door close. He turned towards the railing of the stairs and kicked it, making the railings vibrate. 'I'm only looking out for you guys...'

The sound of the door slamming echoed throughout the fire exit, making Rise cover her ears from the noise. She glared at Kanji and stuck her tongue out at him. Kanji ignored her childish action and walked up the stairs. He looked back at the other two with a frown etched on his face.

"You two comin' or what?" he asked gruffly as his frown remained on his face. The two nodded and followed after him. After a few flights of stairs, the door from where they entered crashed open. They could hear the familiar roars of Shadows and their heavy footfalls as they climb up the stairs. The sound of wings flapping can also be heard as it got closer to where Naoto's group was.

"Shit. C'mon!" shouted Kanji as he let the two women run past him. He followed after them after slamming the large bag of equipment on one of the bird-like Shadows, making it slam to one of its allies.

After a few more flights of stairs, they could hear the footfalls from where the other group was descend the stairs. They relaxed a bit after hearing them come closer until they heard another roar, this time above them as the footfalls became louder as they stood there, trapped between their enemies.

"Naoto! Got a plan or something?" screeched Kanji as he readied himself for the fight that was inevitably coming to them.

Naoto was silent as she pulled her cap down to cover her eyes, thinking hard on how to proceed. She then pulled out the charges that Dojima gave them before coming to Tokyo. She put them down on where they were standing and dragged Rise and Kanji up towards the descending enemies.

"What the fuck are you doin'?! We're gonna get killed if we meet them head on!" screamed Kanji as he released himself from Naoto's grip. Naoto then turned and shot the charges with her revolver, triggering them.

"Get down!" she shouted as she hit the deck, covering her head with her hands. Kanji and Rise did the same. After the explosion, they straightened themselves up and waited for the enemies above come to them.

"You're the craziest person I have the luck to know." muttered Rise, visibly shaken from what just happened. She grabbed the bat tighter as she heard the enemies above them get closer to where they were.

"I've gotta agree with that... We coulda been hit by that explosion. But we'll talk about that later... We got company." Kanji muttered as he dropped the bag of equipment to the ground and cracked his knuckles.

"At least we've lowered the number of enemies down to four. It would've been worse for us if we got caught in the middle and they attack us from both sides." argued Naoto as she reloaded her gun. She took aim at one of the Shadows above them and shot a round. It hit the Shadow's mask, making a crack on the mask, the bullet lodged into the mask. The Shadow shrieked in agony and stopped on its track, clutching the cracked mask on its face.

"One down." muttered Naoto as she took aim for another Shadow. She shot another round and this time she got the Shadow's knee. She shot the same spot twice until the Shadow fell down the stairs, writhing in pain on the platform. Naoto stopped and reloaded her gun again.

"Okay. Let's go." she ordered and sprinted towards the remaining two Shadows still charging towards them. Kanji followed her lead, picking up the bag of equipment along the way with Rise bringing up the rear. Kanji overtook Naoto and threw the bag of equipment at one of the Shadows. He quickly made his way towards it and followed it up with a kick and finished the Shadow with a powerful punch that sent it flying to the wall. Kanji looked in astonishment at his fist, not noticing the other Shadow coming from his right side. Naoto quickly turned and shot at the Shadow, hitting it on the head. Rise ran up to the Shadow and hit it on the body. It doubled over, giving Rise a chance to hit its lowered head. The Shadow crumpled to the floor and disintegrated to black mist.

"You guys make fighting these things look so easy." commented Rise as she wiped the sweat out of her face. They visibly relaxed as they saw the other two Shadows still in their place, clutching the wounds that Naoto dealt to them.

"Let's get rid of those two and go to the top of the building... Hopefully we'll meet Souji-kun at the top floor." Naoto stated as they walked over to the fallen Shadows.

'Please be okay, Souji-kun...' Naoto thought as her group walked finished off the two remaining enemies and continued their trek to the top of the building.

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**A/N: Thanks for reading! As always, thanks for the reviews, favorites and alerts! Stay awesome guys. **

**Thank you for the support!**


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